Gerard Butler - "Men's Health" October 2008

Gerard Butler is on FIYAH in the October 2008 issue of Men’s Health. Sizzle. Here’s what the 38-year-old Scottish stud had to say:

On becoming an actor after seeing a stage production of Trainspotting in 1995: “A week later, I packed my bags and moved to London to become an actor. I had no connections, no experience, no training, and no prospects. Everybody was laughing at me. Everybody was thinking I’d just messed up my whole career.”

On changing careers to acting: “I know that changing careers was what I needed to do. But what the hell was I thinking? You have to understand that I was completely out of control. If I hadn’t been so lost and insane, I’d still be a lawyer. Misery is a sign that something is wrong, that your life is in need of some big changes. I knew moving to London was a huge risk. But I said to myself, I’m aiming for the stars. I’ll worry about the details later.”

On achieving success: “I haven’t had a drink in more than 10 years. That’s when everything changed for me. That’s when I learned what had to be done to succeed and be happy in life.”

On the success of the movie 300: “You come out of that movie so pumped up, so ready to die for your friends or your country or anything. Like, ‘I will fight for my parking space! I will kill. This is my parking space!’”

On his love for Scotland: “I love everything about the Scottish people – their warmth, their humor, their potential for violence. Nobody from Glasgow goes into acting. You were seen as weird if you wanted to be an actor. But I didn’t mind. It’s just what I wanted to do.”

GERARD BUTLER’S FOUR-STEP PLAN FOR BEATING STRESS

1. Let go of what you can’t control – “I have a very complex process for taking the pressure off myself. It starts with me saying, ‘I can only do what I can do.’”

2. Don’t hold back with the stuff you can control – “When I’m working, that’s on my mind all the time, the faith that has been granted to me by people, the money that has been spent. It seems the best thing I can do to honor it is to work my butt off.”

3. Make time for R&R – Rest and Recreation – “I don’t want to abuse my success, so I don’t go out partying all the time. I try to get as much rest as I can.” “When I’m working in a new place, I’m always thinking, Okay, where are the trails? Where can I go hiking and running?”

4. Remember where you started – “I try to love where I am and what I’m doing. I see it as an honor to do what I do for a living.”